Engineer.inspect with Max Jacobson

Welcome to the first installment of Engineer.inspect, an interview series introducing engineers across Vimeo. Get a glimpse into who we are and what we’re about.

Intro, please. What’s your name, and what are your pronouns?

Hi, I’m Max Jacobson and I use he/him pronouns.

What do you do at Vimeo?

I’m an engineering manager. My team works on Vimeo OTT, which is a product that helps normal people launch video content businesses. Our focus is on the storefront experience, which means we’re developing features to help those businesses make more money.

Which languages and frameworks do you use at work?

We use Ruby on Rails plus JavaScript with React.

Here’s a sobering thought I had recently: if trends continue, I’ll spend my whole career working with Ruby on Rails. Actually, maybe that’s a fun thought? I like Ruby on Rails.

Tell us about something you worked on recently that you crushed. Or that you were crushed by.

Oof. I tried to simplify and upgrade our webpack config and that kind of crushed me. JS tooling is hard, y’all. I’m optimistic that we will figure it out, though.

Favorite thing about your job.

My favorite thing about my job is changelog emails. Engineers on the team send internal release emails to let everyone know about things they’ve shipped recently. I really like writing them; it’s fun to tell the story of the thing I’ve been thinking about, and it’s fun to get encouragement from folks in other departments like account management and support who are amped about the change.

But even more, I really like reading them. It’s cool to hear about what the other engineers are working on, in their own words. It’s cool to feel that drumbeat of progress. It’s cool to give them encouragement about what they did.

Tell us about your WFH setup.

I have a desk at home. It’s technically a dinner table; I was looking for something spacious enough to hold a lot of clutter. During this past year, I added a few things: a wall clock, a desk lamp, a monitor arm, a webcam, a headphones hook, and some art to show up behind me on calls.

At some point I got a stool for my kitchen counter, and having a new place to sit during the day was weirdly very energizing.

I used to use an ostentatiously loud mechanical keyboard (the wonderfully retro Unicomp Spacesaver M White) but that proved untenable during pair programming sessions, so I had to switch that out. We’re using Tuple for remote pairing, which has helped a lot with collaborating and continuing to support each other.

This past year has presented many of us with extraordinary challenges. Have there been any silver linings for you?

Well, professionally speaking, the silver lining has got to be that my team has been very supportive of one another. A handful of them I’ve still never even met in person, but I nevertheless feel a team trust and camaraderie, and I credit that to everyone being generous, candid, patient, and professional. I only started managing people this year. It’s a new and sometimes scary thing. But I’m grateful to be doing it in an environment like that.

This past year showed me __________ .

This past year showed me that the future really, really is not set in stone. Things that seem deeply unlikely to happen sometimes do. I appreciate the reminder. It makes me want to be more ambitious.

What’s something you read recently that challenged you?

I read a discussion on Twitter about whether daily standup meetings — a fairly common practice in software development teams — are “a symptom of a team/leadership that lacks effective communication.” My team does a daily standup. Some days it feels perfunctory and other days vital. Reading that made me wonder how standup makes my team feel, and reflect on how it makes me feel. Sometimes, standup makes me feel anxious. I thought that was just me. Hmmm. Still reflecting on that one.

It’s your last meal on Earth. Tell me about it.

Oh wow. I’ll go with my gut on this one. I’d go to the year 1997, visit Ernesto’s, have a chicken parm with spaghetti, and flan for dessert. Ernesto’s was my first favorite restaurant. It was in a converted windmill on the side of route 202, halfway between Cortlandt Manor and Yorktown. Ernesto would stop by our table to chitchat with my parents. Dining at Ernesto’s made me feel worldly. It’s not there anymore, but the nostalgia remains.

What has inspired you recently?

I never followed any sports at all until a few years ago, when I abruptly and completely became a tennis fan. People — I get it now. Sports are so cool. Well, I can only speak to tennis, but presumably the same principles apply. What I like about tennis is that the player is all alone out there — they even have to carry their own gear onto the court. It’s a pure battle of wills between the players.

I’ll watch anything, but I’ve gotten much more invested in the WTA side of things, which has fewer problematic characters and more watchable gameplay. Longer, more dynamic points and fewer marathon-length matches.

So, to answer your question.

I’ve been inspired to watch Serena Williams indefatigably pursue a record-tying twenty-four grand slam titles.

I’ve been inspired by watching Venus Williams twist her ankle but keep playing through it, because she’d rather lose on her own terms than forfeit a match.

I’ve been inspired by Karolina Muchova pulling off back-to-back ridiculous come-from-behind wins from positions where almost anyone else would’ve just given up.

I’ve been inspired by Iga Świątek speaking candidly about the crucial role her sports psychologist has played in her recent success.

I’ve been inspired by Jessica Pegula, a literal billionaire, who truly does not need this, putting in the work and competing because I guess it must mean something to her.

I’ll stop there but really, I could go on. There’s a lot of lessons to learn. Sports. Who knew?

OK, one last thing: Did you know that when you lose a set 6–0, that’s called “getting bageled,” and if you lose a set 6–1, that’s called “getting breadsticked”? I also find that inspiring.

Leave us with your favorite Vimeo video.

Please enjoy this live rock and roll performance by Bars of Gold, which takes place at American Coney Island, a hot dog restaurant in Detroit. The song bristles with nervous energy that never quite boils over. Even as Marc Paffi, the vocalist, is full-on screaming about zombies and demons, the servers are keeping the Coney dogs flowing. There’s a single comment, which I agree with: “I like everything about this.”

Care to join us? Check out our jobs page. And stay tuned for more Engineer.inspect posts.